Michael Scott, the boss in The Office TV show, exhibits highly egocentric behaviors such as always needing to be the center of attention. His abnormal childhood development, which involved wearing suits daily in high school and desiring 100 friends so no one could say no to him, likely contributed to his cognitive distortions as an adult. For example, at a coworker's wedding he became irritated when the attention shifted from him pushing the wheelchair and proceeded to disrupt the ceremony until being kicked out, showing his imaginary audience cognitive distortion from childhood had persisted into adulthood. While annoying in real life, Michael's abnormal personality provides many comedic situations throughout the show.

1. THE OFFICE
Michael Scott and cognitive development

2. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
• Cognitive development focuses on the development of the brain in childhood in
terms of processing information, understanding concepts, and perception.
• Many factors go into the development of a child’s mind.
• These factors include parenting styles, social interactions, gender, and even behaviors of
the mother during pregnancy.

3. MICHAEL SCOTT
• In the TV show “The Office”, the boss Michael Scott is known for his antics and
obnoxious behaviors.
• Throughout the show, Michael is consistently trying to be the center of attention
and thinks very highly of himself.

4. MICHAEL SCOTT
In one episode, a worker in the office is getting married and requests for Michael to
push her father’s wheelchair during the ceremony. While walking up the aisle, the
father miraculously stands up and walks on his own. As a result, Michael is irritated
because he feels as though his spotlight had been taken. He reacts by making himself
the center of attention several times throughout the rest of the wedding until
inevitably being kicked out.

5. CONNECTION
• Although Michael is not an adolescent in the show, his egocentrism could possibly
be traced back to his childhood.
• A form of egocentrism is the imaginary audience, in which the person believes that
everyone is interested in them.
• This is exactly how Michael Scott acts throughout the show, he always feels the need to
be the center of attention and often times he justifies his actions by saying that people
like him so much that they in fact want him to do it.
• In the instance of the wedding, of course it was not Michael’s spotlight when he was
pushing the father in his wheelchair, yet somehow he felt like it was about him.
• Throughout the show, references are made to his childhood which can help explain this
behavior.

6. CONNECTION
• In one episode, Phyllis explains how when she was in high school with Michael, he
would wear a suit and tie every day. Although some people wish to look nice, this is
clearly abnormal for a high school kid to do every single day.
• In another instance, Michael shows an episode of a kid’s show that he appeared on,
in which a puppet asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. He responds
with, “I want to be married and have 100 kids so I can have 100 friends and no one
can say no to being my friend.”

7. CONNECTION
• Both of these instances are good indicators that Michael had an abnormal
childhood. Somewhere along the way, he developed his egocentric mindset that
extended past his youth and into adulthood.
• The cause most likely involved how his parents raised and disciplined him, as well as
social encounters throughout his adolescence.
• The abnormal cognitive development of Michael Scott resulted in his obnoxious
personality. The wedding incident previously described is only one of many that
occur throughout the show.
• This personality would be very annoying to deal with in real life, but in the show it
provides plenty of hilarious mishaps and cringe worthy speeches.